Compare and Contrast parent-child relationships in ‘Follower’, ‘Catrin’ and two other pre-1914 poems
In the following poems we see various interesting examples of parent-child relationships. Some are easier to relate to than others but most communicate the stages of parenthood and the challenges posed by becoming responsible for another person. The poets each take different lines on how they perceive/d parenthood and the each in which their children reacted.
In ‘Catrin’ a metaphor of an umbilical cord is used to symbolise the relationship between mother and daughter. It seems that Gillian Clarke feels that this relationship is one that can be “neither won nor lost” and a “struggle”. She goes on to describe their everlasting attachment despite this temporary separation in terms of childbirth. She also says “from the heart’s pool that old rope, tightening around my life” her she is trying to reinforce her belief that her relationship with her daughter is everlasting as she discusses the implications of childbirth on her life. After evaluating the struggle she experiences she finally questions whether mother hood is right for her at this moment in her life.